This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through February 3) – Singularity Hub
I Tested a Next-Gen AI Assistant. It Will Blow You Away Will Knight | Wired When the fruits of the recent generative AI boom get properly integrated intolegacy assistant bots [like Siri and Alexa], they will surely get much more interesting. A year from now, I would expect the experience of using a computer to look very different, says Shah, who says he built vimGPT in only a few days. Most apps will require less clicking and more chatting, with agents becoming an integral part of browsing the web.'
CRISPR Gene Therapy Seems to Cure Dangerous Inflammatory Condition Clare Wilson | New Scientist Ten people who had the one-off gene treatment that is given directly into the body saw their number of swelling attacks fall by 95 percent in the first six months as the therapy took effect. Since then, all but one have had no further episodes for at least a further year, while one person who had the lowest dose of the treatment had one mild attack. This is potentially a cure, says Padmalal Gurugama at Cambridge University Hospitals in the UK, who worked on the new approach.
Apple Vision Pro Review: Magic, Until Its Not Nilay Patel | The Verge The Vision Pro is an astounding product. Its the sort of first-generation device only Apple can really make, from the incredible display and passthrough engineering, to the use of the whole ecosystem to make it so seamlessly useful, to even getting everyone to pretty much ignore the whole external battery situation. But the shocking thing is that Apple may have inadvertently revealed that some of these core ideas are actually dead endsthat they cant ever be executed well enough to become mainstream.
Allen Institute for AI Releases Truly Open Source LLM to Drive Critical Shift in AI Development Sharon Goldman | VentureBeat While other models have included the model code and model weights, OLMo also provides the training code, training data and associated toolkits, as well as evaluation toolkits. In addition, OLMo was released under an open source initiative (OSI) approved license, with AI2 saying that all code, weights, and intermediate checkpoints are released under the Apache 2.0 License. The news comes at a moment when open source/open science AI, which has been playing catch-up to closed, proprietary LLMs like OpenAIs GPT-4 and Anthropics Claude, is making significant headway.
This Robot Can Tidy a Room Without Any Help Rhiannon Williams | MIT Technology Review While robots may easily complete tasks like [picking up and moving things] in a laboratory, getting them to work in an unfamiliar environment where theres little data available is a real challenge. Now, a new system called OK-Robot could train robots to pick up and move objects in settings they havent encountered before. Its an approach that might be able to plug the gap between rapidly improving AI models and actual robot capabilities, as it doesnt require any additional costly, complex training.
People Are Worried That AI Will Take Everyones Jobs. Weve Been Here Before. David Rotman | MIT Technology Review [Karl T. Comptons 1938] essay concisely framed the debate over jobs and technical progress in a way that remains relevant, especially given todays fears over the impact of artificial intelligence. While todays technologies certainly look very different from those of the 1930s, Comptons article is a worthwhile reminder that worries over the future of jobs are not new and are best addressed by applying an understanding of economics, rather than conjuring up genies and monsters.
Experimental Drug Cuts Off Pain at the Source, Company Says Gina Kolata | The New York Times Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston announced [this week] that it had developed an experimental drug that relieves moderate to severe pain, blocking pain signals before they can get to the brain. It works only on peripheral nervesthose outside the brain and the spinal cordmaking it unlike opioids. Vertex says its new drug is expected to avoid opioids potential to lead to addiction.
StarlabWith Half the Volume of the ISSWill Fit Inside Starships Payload Bay Eric Berger | Ars Technica We looked at multiple launches to get Starlab into orbit, and eventually gravitated toward single launch options, [Voyager Space CTO Marshall Smith] said. It saves a lot of the cost of development. It saves a lot of the cost of integration. We can get it all built and checked out on the ground, and tested and launch it with payloads and other systems. One of the many lessons we learned from the International Space Station is that building and integrating in space is very expensive. With a single launch on a Starship, the Starlab module should be ready for human habitation almost immediately, Smith said.
9 Retrofuturistic Predictions That Came True Maxwell Zeff | Gizmodo Commentators and reporters annually try to predict where technology will go, but many fail to get it right year after year. Who gets it right? More often than not, the world resembles the pop culture of the pasts vision for the future. Looking to retrofuturism, an old version of the future, can often predict where our advanced society will go.
Can This AI-Powered Search Engine Replace Google? It Has for Me. Kevin Roose | The New York Times Intrigued by the hype, I recently spent several weeks using Perplexity as my default search engine on both desktop and mobile. Hundreds of searches later, I can report that even though Perplexity isnt perfect, its very good. And while Im not ready to break up with Google entirely, Im now more convinced that AI-powered search engines like Perplexity could loosen Googles grip on the search market, or at least force it to play catch-up.
Image Credit:Dulcey Lima / Unsplash
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This Week's Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through February 3) - Singularity Hub
- Solving the singularity puzzle at the heart of black holes has proven very difficult - Earth.com - May 15th, 2025 [May 15th, 2025]
- The AI Singularity Has a New Catalyst : Live Cognition - DataDrivenInvestor - May 15th, 2025 [May 15th, 2025]
- Fetch the loo roll: Helldivers 2's next big twist is here, as "the full Illuminate fleet is emerging from the Meridia Singularity" - VG247 - May 15th, 2025 [May 15th, 2025]
- Confirmed - The center of black holes harbors a singularity, a point where space-time bends infinitely and classical physics ceases to apply -... - May 15th, 2025 [May 15th, 2025]
- THE SINGULARITY | AI That Lies? Faithfulness Concerns in Chain-of-Thought Models - The Hoya - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- HILL: The singularity of the Christian Easter - The North State Journal - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- AI Singularity Shock: Tech Titans Predict Unstoppable Intelligence Explosion Within 12 Months, Sparking Global Fear and Frenzy - Sustainability Times - April 23rd, 2025 [April 23rd, 2025]
- An A.I. Fooled Humans and Passed the Turing Test. But It's a Red Herring for the Singularity. - Popular Mechanics - April 16th, 2025 [April 16th, 2025]
- Singularity AMC gears up to start raising third PE fund - VCCircle - April 16th, 2025 [April 16th, 2025]
- Helldivers 2 Has a Massive Opportunity with the Meridian Singularity - Game Rant - April 16th, 2025 [April 16th, 2025]
- THE SINGULARITY | Elon Musk, DOGE and the Merging of Technology and Politics - The Hoya - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- The Definition of Singularity - AOL.com - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- 'God of gaps': singularity and the divine - The Express Tribune - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- B1A4 sells out 'Singularity' concert tickets ahead of 14th anniversary celebration - CHOSUNBIZ - Chosun Biz - April 8th, 2025 [April 8th, 2025]
- Singularity is a Forest - Style Weekly - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Singularity achieved? After shaky start, AI has suddenly become relevant to Oscar predictions - Gold Derby - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Humanity May Achieve the Singularity Within the Next 12 Months, Scientists Suggest - Popular Mechanics - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- Elon Musks big warning on the AI singularity - Washington Examiner - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- Information Singularity: What Happens When Even AI Experts Can't Keep Up With AI - substack.com - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- Elon Musk Claims Were on the Event Horizon of the Singularity Are We? - substack.com - February 27th, 2025 [February 27th, 2025]
- How Real Is The Possibility Of AI Going Rogue? Tech Singularity And Elon Musks Warning Explained - News18 - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Liberty save us, Helldivers 2 just lost a planet to the deadly black hole we created last year after spaghettifying Meridia, and the singularity is... - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Boruto: The Singularity of Fate, Explained - CBR - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Top Dubai-based production company Singularity joins the m25 representation network - Campaign Brief Asia - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- Singularity Finance Announces Collaboration with Particle Network - Brave New Coin Insights - January 27th, 2025 [January 27th, 2025]
- Singularity Finance Teams Up With Particle Network To Streamline Tokenized AI Transactions - The Crypto Basic - January 27th, 2025 [January 27th, 2025]
- Davos 2025: Africa at the crossroads of circularity and singularity - Punch Newspapers - January 27th, 2025 [January 27th, 2025]
- Singularity Finance Partners with Zoth for ZLTN Prime Tokenized Asset - Crypto News Flash - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Is 2025 the Year AI Agents Take Over? Industry Bets Billions on AIs Killer App - Singularity Hub - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Call of Duty: World at War and Singularity reportedly coming to Game Pass - Video Games Chronicle - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- AI That Can Design Life's Machinery From Scratch Had a Big Year. Here's What Happens Next. - Singularity Hub - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Call of Duty: World at War, Singularity to Reportedly Join Game Pass in 2025 - Gadgets 360 - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- This Weeks Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through December 21) - Singularity Hub - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Singularity Advocate Series #1: AI with a Mind of Its Own, On Trial for its Life - JD Supra - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- ISC East Recap: The Unification Singularity - SecurityInfoWatch - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- The Singularity: The Future of Man and Machine - Observer Research Foundation - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- The Secret to Predicting How Your Brain Will Age May Be in Your Blood - Singularity Hub - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- Thousands of Undiscovered Genes May Be Hidden in DNA Dark Matter - Singularity Hub - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- Darryl Vidal's Sci-Fi Thriller MindCraft: The Educational Singularity Delivers an Electrifying Vision of the Future - Benzinga - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Theoretical physicist wants to know whats at a singularity - Cosmos - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Singularity Finance: Making AI and RWAs Easy to Access - Crypto Times - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Humanity May Reach Singularity Within Just 6 Years, Trend Shows - Yahoo! Voices - December 8th, 2024 [December 8th, 2024]
- This Weeks Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through December 7) - Singularity Hub - December 8th, 2024 [December 8th, 2024]
- The Singularity Is Nearsighted, A Book Review - Forbes - December 8th, 2024 [December 8th, 2024]
- Most Supposedly Open AI Systems Are Actually Closedand Thats a Problem - Singularity Hub - December 2nd, 2024 [December 2nd, 2024]
- Humanity May Reach Singularity Within Just 6 Years, Trend Shows - MSN - December 2nd, 2024 [December 2nd, 2024]
- Humanity May Reach Singularity Within Just 6 Years, Trend Shows - Popular Mechanics - November 30th, 2024 [November 30th, 2024]
- Singularity alert: AIs are already designing their own chips - New Atlas - November 30th, 2024 [November 30th, 2024]
- OpenAIs GPT-4o Makes AI Clones of Real People With Surprising Ease - Singularity Hub - November 30th, 2024 [November 30th, 2024]
- A 4.45-Billion-Year-Old Crystal From Mars Reveals the Planet Had Water From the Beginning - Singularity Hub - November 30th, 2024 [November 30th, 2024]
- This Weeks Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 23) - Singularity Hub - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- Album Review: WO FAT The Singularity - Metal Injection - November 19th, 2024 [November 19th, 2024]
- This Weeks Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 16) - Singularity Hub - November 19th, 2024 [November 19th, 2024]
- Could We Ever Decipher an Alien Language? Uncovering How AI Communicates May Be Key - Singularity Hub - November 19th, 2024 [November 19th, 2024]
- THE SINGULARITY | Georgetown Doesnt Need Engineering - Georgetown University The Hoya - November 17th, 2024 [November 17th, 2024]
- Simulation and kinematic analysis of a 3-DOF marine antenna pedestal focusing on singularity avoidance and its effects on angular velocity and angular... - November 17th, 2024 [November 17th, 2024]
- Book Review The many and the singularity - Morning Star Online - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- MIT's New Robot Dog Learned to Walk and Climb in a Simulation Whipped Up by Generative AI - Singularity Hub - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Sweet CRISPR Tomatoes May Be Coming to a Supermarket Near You - Singularity Hub - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Outlier Ventures Partners with Singularity Finance on the RWA Base Camp Accelerator Program - CryptoGlobe - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- AI Singularity might take place under Trump presidency, AI experts are worried - Firstpost - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- This Weeks Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through November 9) - Singularity Hub - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- SentinelOne to showcase AI-powered Singularity Platform at Gitex Global this year - Gulf News - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- Our Mutual Friend: A Review of The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI by Ray Kurzweil - Newcity Lit - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- Youll Soon Be Able to Book a Room at the Worlds First 3D-Printed Hotel - Singularity Hub - October 14th, 2024 [October 14th, 2024]
- THE SINGULARITY | What Artificial Intelligence Means for Academia - Georgetown University The Hoya - October 9th, 2024 [October 9th, 2024]
- Inside Singularity's second gathering of business heads in India | Mint - Mint - October 9th, 2024 [October 9th, 2024]
- This Weeks Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through October 5) - Singularity Hub - October 9th, 2024 [October 9th, 2024]
- This Weeks Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through September 21) - Singularity Hub - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Valorant Singularity 2.0 is Repeating the Worst Fortnite Blunder: Riot is Running Out of Ideas to Cash in on Old Skins - imdb - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- SentinelOne Takes Top Honors at 2024 SC Media Awards as AI-Powered Singularity Platform Wins Best Enterprise Security Solution and Best Endpoint... - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Elderly Monkeys Aged More Slowly When Given a Cheap Diabetes Drug Used by Millions - Singularity Hub - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Christos Yannaras and the Hellenic Diaspora: Rediscovering Singularity - The National Herald - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- This Weeks Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through September 14) - Singularity Hub - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Jackalope Theatre Companys The Singularity Play - Choose Chicago - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- SentinelOne Achieves FedRAMP High Authorization for Singularity Platform and Singularity Data Lake - StockTitan - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- A New Gene Therapy Reprograms Cancer Cells to Fight Themselves - Singularity Hub - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- The singularity of literary production: Nirmal Verma and Jorge Luis Borges in London, 1976 - Scroll.in - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Robots Are Coming to the KitchenWhat That Could Mean for Society and Culture - Singularity Hub - September 3rd, 2024 [September 3rd, 2024]
- 463. The Road to Singularity: Ben Goertzel on AGI and The Fate of Humanity - Skeptic Magazine - September 3rd, 2024 [September 3rd, 2024]